Submission #1 – Josiah Schmidt – Family Crest Design Contest

SUBMISSION #1
Designer: Josiah Schmidt
This family crest is divided into four quadrants. The upper left quadrant contains a hammer and anvil, which symbolizes the trade (smithing) that gave our family its name, “Schmidt”. The upper right quadrant contains an American flag and a Hessian flag intersecting one another, representing our American identity and our roots in the Hessen Kassel region of Germany. The lower left quadrant contains a Linden tree, which is common in the forest-rich region of Hesse that our ancestors came from, and which also pays homage to the Lindemann family, with whom the Schmidts often intermarried. The lower right quadrant contains a stalk of wheat, symbolizing the agricultural lifestyle that supported our ancestors when they came to America. In the center is the Bundesadler (the eagle of Germany), paying tribute to the Germanic culture and heritage of our ancestors that still influences us today. At the bottom is a banner with the motto “Macht aus Machtlos,” which translates to “Strength out of Powerlessness” (a play on words, given that our ancestors hailed from a village called Machtlos) — appropriate, given that we came from a family of lowly peasants in an obscure little hamlet, and now have become one of the largest and most successful German immigrant families in America.